An addict speaks

(Page 4 of 5)

Although Conway, who ran part of his operation out of the medical plaza at 865 Merrick Road and also had an office in Oceanside, admitted in July, “Some of the prescriptions I wrote went to individuals who I knew were addicted to oxycodone,” the Herald asked Randy if he thought any of the doctors he and his friends hit up for pills genuinely believed they were helping people in pain. His answer was an unequivocal “no.”

“I had one doctor who used to meet me in a parking lot,” Randy recounted. “Just straight meet me in a parking lot. I’d give him $200 and he’d have a script for the 30-milligram Oxys. Two hundred dollars. Every two weeks we’d meet him.”

Randy also said that he and fellow addicts would share information about willing doctors. Once an addict identified one, he or she would spread the word to the drug-seeking community.

“For the first three times you go, you give that person half,” Randy explained. “If you get 120 OxyContin 30s, you give the person 60 of them … who made the introduction. And after that you’re able to go to the doctor on your own. That’s how it always works for everybody.”

Randy told the Herald that the drug problem in his peer group could be traced to a single teen — a “patient zero” from his high school who had a hookup with a drug-dealing doctor.

“This kid was getting, literally, Oxy 80s, 60s, 30s, Xanax, everything,” Randy said, adding that the drug Percocet — which contains 10 milligrams of narcotic — were considered a small-time casual recreation. “That was like when I was, you know, just around here. Smoking pot. They were just always around.”

Randy said that in addition to doctors, pharmacists are also a major beneficiary of Nassau County’s illicit drug economy. “There are definitely crooked pharmacists, too,” he said. “You have to go to all different pharmacies.”